Letter concerning Smyrna

​and to those of strangers who arrive, and furthermore as a source of every fortune and consolation to strangers, I would gladly arrive at that day on which I shall behold these things standing. Yet when I reflect within myself that one of the former emperors—not of your house, for may this not be so, nor could it happen from any of you, but one of those of former times playing draughts, as they say, muttered in the midst of it, that he did not wish the Nasamones to exist, and then the Nasamones perished—I think I can reasonably hope concerning you that, being zealous and employing your own characters, and having only said and prefigured this much, that you wish Smyrna to exist, you will quickly show to us all what we desire. Moreover, I do not use foreign examples, but your own, in how much care you took of the cities in Italy, so that they recovered in all respects. Those indeed, having long been worn out, you restored; but as for Smyrna, which was recently flourishing and has recently fallen, restore her again to the number of cities, having formerly adorned her temples, and now saving her entire form. And the city is worthy to be saved not only for the sake of her appearance, but also for the sake of the goodwill which she showed toward you through all time, by having taken part in the war against Antiochus, and having taken part in that against Aristonicus, and having endured sieges and fought no ordinary battles, of which even now her monuments were at the gates. Furthermore, when your army needed clothing and the general was lost, they carried the general into the city and buried him within the present gates, and distributed the tunics to the soldiers, man giving to man. Such indeed they were toward you, the rulers; but what were they toward those of their own race? To write everything would be no small task. But when earthquakes and successive famines once occurred around this lower region ​of Asia, and some indeed were destroyed by chasms, and multifaceted disaster held the cities, they saved some of the cities, the Chians, the Erythraeans, the Teians, the Halicarnassians, with corn and money and by lacking nothing of zeal. Therefore, for those disasters which then a single city was sufficient to relieve for others, now not any city whatsoever is sufficient to help her. Only the hope from you is left. And indeed, formerly she carried off the prizes for her deeds, land and armor and spoils, with which you honored her, but now the prizes of disasters have been taken up from the divinity, of which the solution is yours. And what is most of all worthy to speak of and to marvel at is the change of fortune. For concerning the temple which has now sunk, it is said to have met with such splendor that, when a contest arose, Asia was preferred to the other nations, and of the cities in Asia, Smyrna so much so that the rest of Asia received only seven votes, while the city alone had four hundred. This indeed you might perhaps recover through Asia, if it seems good to you, but the restoration of the whole is yours alone, to whom the gods have given such great things. Therefore, when I look at the magnitude of the disaster, no speech seems to me to be sufficient, but everything falls short of the measure; but when I look at your virtue and nature and your readiness for benefactions, it occurs to me to fear lest I seem to have spoken more than is fitting. I think indeed that this is not so; but if indeed it is, you will forgive me, I know. For indeed, a man overtaken by disaster speaks many things even contrary to his own intent, especially when it is one which he would never have expected.